The Sinhalese son of King Bhuvaneka Bahu I, Parakrama Bahu III, the real heir to the throne was crowned at Dambadeniya under the name of Pandita Parakrama Bahu III. Vathimi Raja was the son of King Bhuvaneka Bahu I, by a Muslim spouse, the daughter of one of the chiefs. This factor cannot be found in history books due to their omission, for reasons unknown, by modern authors. There is also a report in the history of Sri Lanka of a Muslim Ruler, Vathimi Raja, who reigned at Kurunegala (North Central Province) in the 14 th century. About this time, a Moorman of Beruwella, motivated by the tempting offers made the voyage across Palk’s Strait and brought with him a batch of eight weavers of the Salagama caste, from a place call Saliapatanam. During this time the Sinhalese king delivered manifestos granting rewards to any individual who would go over to India and bring some skilled craftsman for the purpose of introducing the art of manufacture of cloth in Ceylon. Accordingly, they had to depend on India for their clothing. Of course, there were the ancient hand-loom and distaff, but the production was insufficient to meet the requirements of the entire population. The Sinhalese Kings considered the Muslim settlements favorably on account of the revenue that they brought them through their contacts overseas both in trade and in politics. History accounts, Up to the Fourteenth Century, the Sinhalese were not familiar with mass-scale spinning and weaving of cloth. The Sinhalese in that era were not interested in trade and were appeased in agriculture and raising livestock. This surely suggests that the Arabs had been in the country for some time and they were known to the inhabitants of Ceylon and wielded influence and were therefore permitted to travel far into the interior in safety and comfort.īy about the tenth century the Arab trading societies were well established in Sri Lanka, especially in the island’s coastal towns enjoying the favor of the rulers and maintaining cordial relations with the local inhabitants. One cannot think of an Arabian, ignorant of the language of the indigenous inhabitants of a country, unlike its people in every respect in regard to habits, customs, diet and observances, undertaking a long and perilous journey into the heart of an unknown country.
and mentioned a pilgrimage to Adam’s Peak. Sulaiman, an Arab trader and explorer, recounts his visit to Ceylon in 850 A.D. However the traces of Arab links with Ceylon were evident well before the chronicles were penned. The first Mohammadians reached Ceylon were the members of the House of Hashim who fled in face of the persecution of the tyrannical Caliphs in the early part of the 8 th century. The early Arab traders who visited Ceylonsettled in the coastal belt of Ceylon concentrating mainly in the South Western towns of the country.
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